///AMG
Well-Known Member
Can't speak to what may or may not be the same as when I went through, but I'm guessing things haven't changed too much. I never did IFS so I have no idea about that (you won't do it either if you have a PPL or better), but my understanding was that it was pass/fail. People did attrite from the overall program because of sucking there, or worse yet, not caring, but I never heard of anyone having IFS factor into their selections down the road.
API is graded, and it does contribute in a very small amount towards your selection "NSS", which is like your flight school GPA, but defined purely in comparison to the bell curve of students ahead of and right around you (ie a 50 NSS is average, 75 is a couple standard deviations above average, 35 being several standard deviations below avg). What I heard when I went through was that API counted for about +/- 1 NSS point. That was probably clueless ENS/2lt rumor mill, but suffice to say that it doesn't matter that much..........provided you complete API and don't start failing tests, which can and will attrite you from the program.
Primary is basically where the grades that count start. You may or may not have some ungraded cockpit procedural trainer (CPT) sims at the beginning, but essentially your first day of the primary syllabus is where you start working towards that selection sheet. Do well, don't have bad timing, and the rest will probably work itself it.....did for almost everyone that I knew then, myself included.
As for the T-6, yes, it will completely replace T-34's in the training command. I believe Whiting is already (and has been for a little while) T-6 only. Corpus was getting their first Texans last I heard, though my ear is pretty far from the ground on that info. Vance has been T-6 only for quite a while, though I heard that may be going away sometime in the future. Either way, I wouldn't try to game that. I think the T-6 will be a whole lot more airplane early on for a lot of folks, but then again, everyone (mostly) will be together in that boat. For those that go jets/tailhook, I think it will be a pretty good airplane to make the transition to the T-45 from. Then again, I have 0 hours in a T-6, and still don't know anyone who did Navy primary in it (though I knew plenty who flew it at Vance). So I have really no idea how that syllabus will look, I just know that it has more stuff in common with the T-45 (performance, avionics, normal operations, etc).
